SHLICHUS NEAR HOME

Tzippora began to lovingly gather the group of tiny tots who were playing on the floor. Lunch would soon be served at the daycare center and she had to get them seated. The older ones would sit at the table while the babies would sit in highchairs.

“Heeellooo,” could be heard with a Russian accent. Then the door swung open and a wagon full of food was pushed inside.

“Thank you Sveta,” said Tzippora to the devoted cook, and some children joined her and sweetly chorused, “Thank you!”

Tzippora fed the children chicken soup and rice and as they ate she sang Jewish songs.

There was Sveta again carrying a container of milk and plastic cups.

“Hey Sveta, I’m sorry but we just ate chicken and we can’t serve milk now. You can bring water please. We will leave the milk for tomorrow’s breakfast,” said Tzippora gently but firmly.

Sveta made a face as though to say, “There she goes again, mixing into kitchen matters … Lately, she has been on top of me and telling me where to put things, meat utensils here and milk utensils there, saying they can’t be mixed.”

Although Sveta was not pleased by the new rules, she obeyed Tzippora. She slowly learned the laws of basic kashrus and observed them, to Tzippora’s great delight.

The preschool teacher Tzippora Herzog had become religious recently. When she began keeping kosher at home, she decided that at the irreligious daycare center where she worked, kashrus should also be observed.

The cook, as we mentioned, was annoyed at first, but slowly got used to it. But there was someone who did not like the idea at all. That was the director of the center. She looked angrily at Tzippora every time she heard another one of her comments, but did not say anything. Tzippora was sure that the director wanted to fire her, but wasn’t doing so because she had not found someone to replace her yet.

Some time went by and Tzippora decided that since she had successfully brought kashrus into the center, she would try something else. A Chassid of the Rebbe always looks for ways to do more. “Most of the children have started talking and it’s time to teach them the 12 P’sukim,” she daringly decided.

“Torah!” Tzippora called out, and the children enthusiastically repeated the words after her, in their own way.

Tzippora did this every day. Within a short time, the children had begun to absorb and remember the p’sukim and some of them recited them as they played.

With this, the director could not take it anymore. She rebuked Tzippora saying, “Have you forgotten where you are? This is not a religious daycare center! The parents are complaining about what you are doing. Either you stop or you are fired as of the beginning of next month.”

Tzippora felt she could not stop for when it comes to holy things we do more, not less.

“Okay, so next month I won’t be coming. I am not upset and we can part as friends,” Tzippora said calmly and warmly shook the director’s hand.

The following month, Tzippora did not show up to work. She had no idea how she would make a living but relied on the Rebbe to arrange things for her. She advertised that she was looking for work and immediately received many job offers. She was known as a responsible woman so this was not surprising.

Tzippora did not respond to any of the offers before writing to the Rebbe using the Igros Kodesh. To her great surprise, each time she wrote she opened to a similar answer: Work in Gan Yisroel in chinuch.

“That’s interesting … the Rebbe wants me to work in a Gan and educate Jewish children. That is just what I used to do. I made sure it was kosher and taught the 12 P’sukim, but now I can’t be a teacher because I was fired and replaced, so what does the Rebbe mean?”

Tzippora was confused but did not take another job without the Rebbe’s bracha.

She continued looking for a job and each time she had a possibility she wrote to the Rebbe for a bracha. One of the times, the Rebbe asked, “Why are you looking for work far away when there is work near your house?”

Tzippora was astounded. The daycare center was near her house. What should she do? She did not know how but she believed that what the Rebbe said would be fulfilled.

About a week before the start of the new school year, her phone rang. “Hello Tzippora,” said a familiar voice. “It’s me, Chedva, the director of the daycare center. Listen, I need you to come back and work for us. We cannot manage without you. The children from last year still remember you.”

Tzippora was surprised by the change but did not ask many questions. “I’ll come back but on condition that we can continue maintaining the kosher kitchen and teaching the children the 12 P’sukim.”

“Of course, of course,” said the director, to Tzippora’s amazement.

Tzippora wondered what had changed but kept quiet. She figured that she would get an answer as time went on. Indeed, on the first day, she noticed two boys wearing kippos.

“Who are they?” Tzippora was surprised to see religious children there.

“Umm … they are children from religious families,” said the director. “In the summer, when we had registration, we spoke to their mothers and recommended that they send the children to our preschool. They were willing on condition that it’s kosher. They said that they had called all the daycare centers in the area and did not find a center that observed kashrus on a satisfactory level. They said, ‘It’s not enough for us that they keep kosher; we need to know who is in charge of the kashrus at your center.’

“That’s when I called you in the hopes that you hadn’t found another job in the meantime. When you said you would come back, I called the mothers and said, ‘The one in charge is Tzippora Herzog. Not only does she keep kosher, she teaches the children p’sukim.’ When they heard your name, they did not hesitate for a moment and immediately enrolled their children.”

Tzippora smiled and was so grateful that we have a Rebbe to guide us.